New Hampshire, COLONY OF,
was for many years a dependent of
Massachusetts. Its short line of seacoast was probably first
discovered by Martin Pring in 1603. It was visited by
Captain John Smith
in 1614. The enterprising
Sir Ferdinando Gorges,
who had been engaged in colonizing projects many years as one of the
most active members of the
Plymouth Company,
projected a settlement farther eastward than any yet established,
and for that purpose he became associated with
John Mason, a merchant (afterwards a
naval commander, and secretary of the Plymouth Council of
New England), and others. Mason was a
man of action, and well acquainted with all matters pertaining to
settlements. He and
Gorges obtained a grant of land (August 10, 1622) extending from
the Merrimac
to the Kennebec, and inland to the St. Lawrence. They named the
territory the Province of Laconia; and to forestall the French
settlements in the east, and secure the country to the Protestants,
Gorges secured a grant from Sir
William Alexander of the whole mainland eastward of the St.
Croix River, excepting a small part of Acadia.
Mason had already obtained a grant of land (March 2, 1621) extending
from Salem to the mouth of the
Merrimac, which he called Mariana; and the same year a colony of
fishermen seated themselves at Little Harbor, on the Piscataqua,
just below the site of Portsmouth.

Other fishermen settled on the site of Dover
(1623), and there were soon several fishing-stations, but no
permanent settlement until 1629, when Mason built a house near the
mouth of the Piscataqua, and called the place Portsmouth. He and
Gorges had agreed to divide their domain at the Piscataqua, and
Mason, obtaining a patent for his portion of the territory, named it
New Hampshire. He had been governor of Portsmouth, in Hampshire,
England, and these names were given in commemoration of the fact. In
the same year (1629), Rev. Mr. Wheelwright, brother of the notable
Anne Hutchinson, purchased from the Indians the Wilderness, the
Merrimac, and the Piscataqua, and founded Exeter. Mason died in
1633, and his domain passed into the hands of his retainers in
payment for past services. The scattered settlements in New
Hampshire finally coalesced with the
Massachusetts Colony (1641), and the former colony remained a
dependent of the latter until 1680, when New Hampshire became a
separate royal province, ruled by a governor and council, and a
House of Representatives elected by the people. The settlements in
New Hampshire gradually extended westward, and until 1764 it was
supposed the territory now Vermont was included in that of New
Hampshire, and grants of land were made there by the authorities of
the latter province.

The people of New Hampshire engaged earnestly in
the disputes between Great Britain and her
American colonies, and
they were the first to form an independent State government (Jan. 5,
1776). It was temporary, intended to last only during the war; a
permanent State government was not established until June 4, 1784.
During the Revolutionary War the people of New Hampshire took an
active part. Their men were engaged in many important battles, from
that of Bunker Hill to that at
Yorktown; and were particularly
distinguished for their bravery in the battles of
Bennington,
Bemis's Heights, Saratoga, and
Monmouth. The first seal of New
Hampshire as an independent State is represented in the engraving.
The tree and fish indicate the productions of the State.

Shortly after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
(1748), settlements in New Hampshire began to extend westward of the
Connecticut River. The territory of New Hampshire had been reckoned
to extend, according to the terms of Mason's grant, according only
"60 miles in the interior"; the commission of Benning Wentworth,
then (1741–67) governor of New Hampshire, included all the territory
" to the boundaries of his Majesty's other provinces," and in 1752
he bean to issue grants of lands to settlers west of the
Connecticut, in what is now the State of Vermont.
New York, by virtue of the duke's patent
in 1664, claimed the Connecticut River as its eastern boundary. A
mild dispute then arose. New York had relinquished its claim so far
east as against Connecticut, and against Massachusetts it was not
then seriously insisted upon. Arguing that his province ought to
have an extent which would equal that of the western boundary of
Massachusetts, Governor Wentworth granted fifteen townships
adjoining the recent Massachusetts settlements on the Hoosic. One
township was called Bennington, which was in compliment to the
governor. Emigrants from Connecticut and Massachusetts began to
settle on the domain, when they were checked by the French and
Indian War. Afterwards, violent disputes with New York about these
grants ensued. See VERMONT.

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